Valve construction



April 4, 1944. R. A. FoREsMAN VALVE CONSTRUCTION Filed Jan. a, 1945 2sheets-sheet 1 n m v @E N NN. NN- \I- .4 3 -m w mm i i. u H. m O o O 0 Oo .Wm EEEEEEEEEEEEE L ECEEEEEi\ W Mllllll-------|l-----------lllllll----/iflllll.. mi@ U Q U W WITNESSES:

Raaf/2r A Foxes/miv ATTORNEY April 4, 1944. l R. A. FoREsMAN 2,345,069

VALVE CONSTRUCTION Filed Jan. 8,. 1945 2. Sheets-Sheet 2 Fae. .2

FIG. 3 yl ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 4, 1944 VALVE CONSTRUCTION Robert A.Foresman, Prospect Park, Pa., assigner to Westinghouse Electric &Manufacturing Company, East Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation ofPennsylvania Application January 8, 1943, Serial No. 471,669

4 Claims.

The invention relates to valve structures, more particularly to valvesfor use with liquid containers, and has for an object to provideimproved valves of this type.

Another object of the invention is to provide a buoyant valve member.

A further object of the invention is to provide a hollow valve structurewhose buoyancy may be increased and decreased. Y

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a closure for a liquidcontainer wherein the sealing pressure of the closure increases withincrease in pressure of the liquid within the container.

These and other objects are effected by the invention as will beapparent from the following description and claims taken in connectionwith the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this application, inwhich:

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view taken along the line I--I ofFig. 2', looking in the direction indicated by the arrows;

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view taken along the line II-II of Fig.1, looking in the direction r there is shown a horizontally-disposedcylindrical closed tank II] which, when used for collecting refuse fromfurnaces, may be, for example, of a size in the order of 6 or 8 feet indiameter and 25 or 35 feet in length. A relatively narrow inlet openingII is provided in the upper wall of the tank Il) and preferably extendsfor a major portion of the length thereof to provide for admission tothe tank of refuse from the ash pit i2 positioned thereabove and adaptedto receive ash and other refuse discharged from a furnace (not shown).clinker grinder rolls I3 to reduce the refuse to a size suitable forhandling in the tank itl, in the manner hereinafter related. Guideplates I4 may be positioned within the ash pit to provide a convergingpassage to the opening I I into the tank lil.

As shown in Fig. 1, the tank is provided with supply conduits Iii ateither end adjacent the bottom thereof, whereby liquid (preferablywater) may be supplied to the tank to ll the latter and the lowerportion of the ash pit I2 to a level determined by the water sealstructure Il and its associated overflow conduit I8. It will be apparentthat this arrangement maintains the clinker grinder rolls I3 submergedin water, whereby they The ash pit I2 may be provided with are preventedfrom overheating by contact with hot ash or refuse from the furnace.

Y The liquid seal structure II serves to prevent ingress of air throughthe overflow conduit i8 to the interior of the ash pit I2 and theassociated -furnace thereabove, thereby avoiding any adverse effectsthat such leakage of air might have upon the operation of the furnace.

The supply conduits I6 are provided with valves I9, whereby, when thetank has been lled to the level determined by the overflow conduit i8,the supply of water to the tank may be reduced to the minimum necessaryto keep the tank iilled.

In order that the apparatus may operate in the manner hereinafterdescribed, there is provided a valve structure 25 in the form of arelatively long and narrow cylindrical tank 25 of such size as tocompletely obstruct the inlet opening II of the tank lli when the valve25 is in its upper, or closing, position (Fig. 2). The valve 25 iscarried by arms 28 pivotally connected to brackets 2l on the interiorwall of the tank I il, whereby the valve may have pivotal movement aboutthe brackets 2l between the closing position, shown in ull lines in Fig.2, and the fully open position, shown in dotted lines in that'gure.

As best shown in Fig. l, one of the pins, providing the pivotalconnection between the arms 25 and the brackets 21, is in the form of anelongated shai't 28 extending through a stuffing box 2.3 in the adjacentend wall of the tank I0, with its terminal portion projecting exteriorlyof the tank. Suitable means, for example, the gearing 30, may beassociated with the projecting end of the shaft 28, whereby, with theinner end of the shaft rigidly secured to the arm 26, the valve member25 may be moved from open to closed position, and vice versa, fromexternally of the tank IG.

A pair of flexible conduits 32 and 33 provide communication between thehollow interior of the valve member 25 and the exterior of the tank I0,so that liquid may be supplied to, or withdrawn from, the valve member,with the result that the latters buoyancy may be increased or decreasedat will.

If desired, a stop structure 35 may be provided within the tank to limitopening movement of the valve member 25 to prevent movement thereof pastvertical dead center with respect to its pivotal axis, so that, with thevalve in open position and submerged in Water in the tank, as shown indotted lines in Fig. 2, if liquid within the valve 25 is withdrawnthrough the conduit 33, the resulting buoyancy of the valve will causeit to automatically rise to its upper closing position with respect tothe opening Il. Conversely, with the valve maintained in closingposition due to its buoyancy, liquid may be supplied thereinto throughthe conduit 32 to render it nonbuoyant, whereupon gravitational forceacting thereon results in opening movement.

The structure illustrated herein is intended to be operated in thefollowing manner: With the valve 25 in open position and the tank andashA pit iilled with water to the leve1 of the overflow conduit I8, ashand other refuse from thefurnace (not shown), discharged toctheashpit-I2, will be reduced in size by the clinkerlgrinder .rolls l Sanddischarged through the opening-,l l into the tank l0. When the quantityof material within the tank has reached predeterminedV limits, the valve25 is moved to closing position either yby operation of the gearing 30and consequent rotation of the shaft 28 or by removing liquid from thevalve 25 to render the latter sufciently buoyant to rise to closingposition without manual operation of the shaft 28. Obviously, the twomethods of moving the valvemay be combined and, in any event, once thevalve is in closing position it would be preferable to remove the liquidtherefrom in order that thebuoyancy thereof will provide increasedsealingA pressure between the valve 25 and the edge of the opening llagainst which the valve seats.

With the valve 25 in closing position, the valves 22 in the dischargeconduits 2`lwill be opened to provide for discharge of water and solidmaterials from the tank I0. At the same time, one or both of the ValvesI9 in the supply conduit i6 will be opened to provide entry of streamsof water to not only flow across the bottom of the tank toward thedischarge conduits 2| to thereby iiush the tank, but also to agitate andrender fluent the mixture of solids and liquid within the tank. It willbe obvious to those skilled in the art that the particular combinationof supply and discharge conduits in operation at one time may be variedin accordance with the particular requirements resulting from changes inoperating conditions; such changes involving variations in size andnature of the material in the tank and variations in pressure of watersupplied through the conduits i6.

In Fig. 3, there is illustrated a modification of the valve structurevfor closing the inlet opening 31; the valve structure in thisarrangement comprising the same cylindrical valve member 2 5, the latterhaving attached thereto, as by welding, a resilient member 33 which, inthe arrangement herein illustrated, is a metal plate providing flexibleportions for contact with the edges of the opening 31 providing thevalve seat. This valve may be rendered buoyant or nonbuoyant in the samemanner as in the previously-described construction, and the operationthereof is identical.

While the invention has been shown in several forms, it will be obviousto those skilled in the art that it is not so limited, but issusceptible of various other changes and modifications Without departing:from the spirit thereof, and it is desired, therefore, that only suchlimitations shall be placed thereupon as are specically set forth in theappended claims.

What is claimed is:

l. :Apparatus of the character described comprising a closed tank havinga relatively long and narrow inlet opening in its topv wall; a long andnarrow closed cylindrical closure member for said opening, saidcylindrical closure member being of a greater diameter than the width ofthe opening;.means for filling the tank with liquid; means for supplyingliquid to and withdrawing liquid from the interior of the closure memberto render the latter heavy or buoyant for moving it to open or closedpositions; and means for guiding said closure member during suchmovement 2. Apparatus of the character vdescribed comprising a closedtank adapted to be filled with liquid and having an inlet opening in itstop wall; a hollow closure member for said opening, said member beinglarger than said opening and positioned within the tank for sealingengagement with said opening; and means for supplying gaseous medium tothe interior of said hollow member to render the member buoyant, wherebywhen the tank is filled with liquid the buoyancy of the closure membertherein urges the member into sealing engagement with they edges of thetank inlet opening.

3. Structure as specified in claim 2, wherein the closure memberincludes a flexible portion adapted to be urged into sealing engagementwith the edges of the tank inlet opening by the buoyancy of the member.

4. Apparatus of the character described comprising ahorizontally-disposed cylindrical tank having a relatively long andnarrow opening in its top wall; a valve member for closing said openingcomprising a hollow cylindrical member of a length and diameter slightlygreater than the length and width of the opening; means mounting thevalve within the` tank for pivotal movement about an axis parallel tothe major axis of the opening between a rst upper position with thevalve closing the opening and a second lower position with the valveuncovering the opening; means operable externally of the tank forswinging the Valve about its pivotal axis between said rst and secondpositions; means for filling the tank with liquid; and means for varyingthe buoyancy of the valve, said means comprising a conduit providingcommunication between the interior of the valve and the exterior of thetank, whereby liquid may be supplied to or withdrawn from the interiorof the valve.

ROBERT A. FORESMAN.

